All You Need To Know About European Airports by Dieter JF Haselsteiner, 756 pages SB, Amazon £26.95, ISBN 9798377322276
First consideration of this tour de force involves the digestion of some mighty statistics: 756 pages, 18 cm wide by 25 cm long by 4 cm deep, 550 airports, 45 countries, 40 pages of statistics and analysis, weighing in at 1.5 kg. The illustrations are accessed by means of a QR code on nearly every page.
Finding a particular airport is easy as the countries and their airports are in alphabetical order, with the information on each airport taking up about a page: including IATA and ICAO codes, location, rail and road links, date of opening, name of operator, dimensions of runway(s), recent pax numbers and current airlines. Each country is introduced by a short essay.
The end section gives copious statistics and comment on such themes as airport size, volume of traffic, largest operating companies, largest airlines, market share, effect of and recovery from COVID19, flights per inhabitant, cargo stats, market penetration by airline, top routes, comparative runway lengths and widths, airport density, new projects, island airports, trends, transport links and catchment areas.
I consulted my grandson Matthew, 12, on accessing the QR codes from my iPad. He gave it a thorough test and really enjoyed looking at the videos of aircraft approaching and landing at almost all the airports listed. He gave the book a thumbs up from a member of the younger aviation-minded generation. From the other end of the age scale, I found it to a very well put together publication, that will, I believe, appeal to any civil aviation enthusiast and European traveller. I would suggest, however, that a simple map of each country showing the whereabouts of the airports therein would be a good addition to a revised addition.
